Copying music to Android SD card messes up tags

[BRAINS]

When copying albums to my Android's SD card the tags get messed up. Not every album does this, but the ones that are effected usually get the genre tag or album title mixed up. If I edit the tags on the phone through MusicBee it says the file is updated but nothing actually changes. First image is from the SD card, second is from my computer.

[redwing]

Check if there are hidden tags in another tag format using tag inspector.

[BRAINS]

The ID3v1 tags show the album title cutoff and the genre "other" but it's like that for all the tracks.

[redwing]

What happens if you clear up ID3v1 tags completely?

[BRAINS]

ID3v1 is blank on the files on the phone.

[BRAINS]

I edited the tag with BlackPlayer on Android correcting the album title and genre. The genre set properly, but the album still shows twice under Indie Rock in BlackPlayer even though the titles are exactly the same. Looking at my portable device in MusicBee, the album shows as one now. Why is it so messed up on Android? I tried Google Play Music and it shows 2 of the album even though everything is correct.

[BRAINS]

Something tells me MusicBee doesn't play nice with Android and SD cards. The song in question "Autumn Sweater" would cut off after 15 seconds in MusicBee and give a playback error. In BlackPlayer it cut off at 32 seconds. So maybe the file got corrupted. I deleted the whole album, copied it back over and it is fine. No split tracks, album or genre.

Now I wanted to fix another album with an incorrect title. I did it in MusicBee and it says updated, but no changes were actually made. Checked BlackPlayer and nothing changed. So I changed the title in BlackPlayer and it updated, but it didn't update in MusicBee under portable device. So editing the tags in BlackPlayer only changes it in the app. Editing in MusicBee doesn't change anything, maybe something to do with Android permissions.

redwing if you have an Android phone with an SD card would you mind trying this? Try editing a tag in MusicBee and see if it updates on your Android device.

[redwing]

Weird things happen with files if its file header or some part is corrupted.
If you think it's more than that, why not ask on the player's forum? You will be better served by Android experts.

[BRAINS]

Well I am trying to understand why MusicBee won't update the tags if I edit them. I just tried Automatic Tagger app for Android. It says it's writes to the SD card but the changes only happen on the phone. I even scanned the files again and closed MusicBee, no difference.

[redwing]

Then try Tools> Advanced> Synchronize files to see if it updates files?

[BRAINS]

Then try Tools> Advanced> Synchronize files to see if it updates files?

Thanks for the suggestion but it did not work. No Files Updated.

I physically disconnected my Android device and connected it again and the album title updated in MusicBee. So automatic tagger app did work, but a file rescan / closing MusicBee is not enough for it to actually see the tag updated.

[redwing]

OK. So now did you resolve the issue by updating tags?

[BRAINS]

The first file had matching tags in every category, but I guess because it was corrupt it got split. I remember improperly ejecting my SD card more than a year ago and I know that messed up some songs.

After doing all this testing I now know MusicBee cannot update tags to an Android's SD card. Make sure your tags are perfect before copying to your phone otherwise you have to use an app like Automatic Tagger and physically disconnect/reconnect your phone to see the changes in MusicBee.

[captain_paranoia]

What music player are you using on your Android device?

[BRAINS]

What music player are you using on your Android device?

I am using BlackPlayer free. It's minimal and has gapless playback which is all I really care about. It is very picky about tags though. If all tags but one match, it will split an album.